The Gold Palace & Resort Jaipur

... restaurant we visited the Jantar Mantar. This unusual exhibit was constructed in the eighteenth century and contains a number of instruments for measuring time and for astrological purposes. It contains the largest sundial in the world which can apparently measure time within two seconds’ accuracy.

Our final stop was the Hawa Mahal or Palace Of The Winds (a name that seems quite appropriate in the land of curry). It was built so that the ladies of ...

... clambering up there and was worried about getting back down again to be honest- I must've looked very funny to everyone else! Also learnt not to bother with booking in aircon carriage for next time, it was freezing and I made full use of the blankets provided!

The journey was great as there was an Indian family opposite me, they were all asleep apart from their 22 year old daughter and we spent the whole 5 hours grilling each other on our different ...

... 8217;m not really sure what it means to me, but seeing women explaining how they council families on contraceptives and family planning (if anyone was blushing it was me) is certainly one sign of empowerment in rural India where women are still deprived of many personal rights, economic opportunity and social equality. I’m curious what the next 2 weeks will bring. Some field stories will make it on this blog for sure. Namaste.

... brought tickets to the Raj Madir, an amazing cinema dating back to the start of the century where we could watch the bollywood movie of the day. The film was called 8x10, cost 100 ruppees (1.30) and was utter sh*t (pardon my french). Izzy possibly summed it up the best by saying 'it was the worst film she had ever seen' and I had to agree. All the same, a great experience. Anyway....time to move on to Ranakpur!

... it started going around and around on how dehumanizing the whole thing is.... I was suddenly looking at this situation like there are so SO many of these people that just have an endless sequence of scam-phrases that they've learned over the years which ones work on the guillable tourists. I mean, they don't give a damn about us as human beings... like what kind of impact buying a $500 rug is going to have on my life. They just want you to walk on it and touch it, and have their ...

... which surprisingly sold saris. I suppose the good thing about looking a bit Indian is that the shopkeepers didn't suss I was completely wasting their time by trying on lots of wedding saris. I fell in love with one, deep pink and orange and intricately beaded and a bargain at 280 quid (no it really was a bargain). Shame I'm not wearing a sari eh? It did briefly cross my mind to have an outfit change for the evening but that's slightly to diva-ish for me. Besides, the saris ...

... alors pas du tout !!! Le sejour termine nous prenons le train vendredi matin, et ce pour 30h, c'est comique le train Indien, t'as beau avoir ta place de reserve, t'as toujours des gars qui s'intallent pour parler avec leur potes et les compartimant est alors tres bruyant avec des gars qui te matent parce que eux non plus savent pas qu'il y a des blancs sur la terre ... Bref heureusement que j'ai passe 15 des 30 heures a dormir, ca passe le temps. Les "au revoir" avec ...

... 4 th April. Ram took us to his friend shop in Jaipur, Rainbow textiles. This is where Alex got a thin cotton sleeping bag inner made for a not such a bargain price of 5 quid. Still I suppose 50 percent cheaper than UK. Clare tried on the Saree, doesnt she look good. And Eliz got the nice French speaking chap who she took a shine to to make a sample block print for her to take home and she bought the cushion covers for home. A visit ...

... that's what colour it is really. If you look above street level you will see the most amazing buildings - with intricately carved screens and brightly coloured shutters that look as if they have been painted on. I still find it amazing to see elephants and decorated horses being ridden at a full gallop down the street. The main reason we went to Jaipur was to see the Amber and ...